Ferrum Noricum

Noricum at the time of the Roman Empire

Noric steel , latin for Noric iron or Norican steel , was a well-known carbonaceous , hardenable steel of Noricum during the time of the Roman Empire .

General

Celtic sword made of Norican steel, approx. 60 BC. Chr.

Ovid found the words for the proverbial strength of Noric steel : [...] durior [...] ferro quod noricus excoquit ignis [...] ("hard as iron and steel, melted in the Noric forge") Almost all of the production was used for manufacturing used by weapons of the Roman Army . The reason for the special usage properties ( edge retention , cutting ability and sharpenability) of steel was the manganese content of the ore, which was not understood until recently, with a simultaneous lack of phosphorus. The trading center of Ferrum Noricum was then in the now nameless town on the Magdalensberg , the then capital of the Roman province of Noricum, before Virunum was founded .

Weapons made of Noric steel contributed to the superiority of the Roman Empire in terms of weapons technology.

Locations

The iron ore was mined in the Erzberg near Hüttenberg , Carinthia , where mining was already carried out in pre-Roman times. Older research also mentions the Erzberg in Eisenerz , Styria, as a mining site. However, more recent archeology has been able to show that this was only discovered for iron mining in the Middle Ages.

Vagn Buchwald has a sword found in Krenovica, Moravia , which dates back to around 300 BC. Is dated as an early example of Noric steel. The chemical composition proves the origin of the iron ore from the Erzberg mine. A newer sword from around 100 BC. BC was found in Zemplín in eastern Slovakia . It is 95 cm long and bears a Latin inscription (? V? TILICI? O), which Buchwald translates as "noble sword made of Norican steel".

literature

• Harald Straube , Heimo Dolenz , Gernot Piccottini: Ferrum Noricum and the city on the Magdalensberg. Springer, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-211-82789-7 .
• Brigitte Cech (Ed.): The production of Ferrum Noricum at the Hüttenberger Erzberg. The results of the interdisciplinary research at the Semlach / Eisner site in the years 2003–2005. Austrian Society for Archeology, Vienna 2008.

Web links

• "Ferrum Noricum" - a synonym for quality and hardness on the website of the University of Vienna .
• Noric iron . In: Austria Lexicon by aeiou .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Metamorphoses (Ovid) , 14 712.
2. ^ Translation from: Gottwein, sd
3. ↑ Noricus ensis , Horace , Oden, i. 16.9.
4. ↑ “Ferrum Noricum” - a synonym for quality and hardness on the website of the University of Vienna
5. ↑ Julius Moshage: Energy moves the world . Ensslin & Laiblin, Reutlingen 1960, p. 53
6. ^ Vagn Fabritius Buchwald: Iron and steel in ancient times . Historisk-filosofiske Skrifter 29 (Copenhagen 2005), p. 124f.
7. ^ Vagn Fabritius Buchwald: Iron and steel in ancient times. Kong. Danske Videnskab. Selskab, Copenhagen 2005, ISBN 87-7304-308-7 , p. 124.
8. ^ Vagn Fabritius Buchwald: Iron and steel in ancient times. Kong. Danske Videnskab. Selskab, Copenhagen 2005, ISBN 87-7304-308-7 , p. 118.
9. ^ Vagn Fabritius Buchwald: Iron and steel in ancient times. Kong. Danske Videnskab. Selskab, Copenhagen 2005, ISBN 87-7304-308-7 , p. 120.